Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
07:56

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure

Published on: September 19, 2019

Changes in parenting representations following Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) at an Australian Early Parenting

Jerrica Kuan1, Anna-Lisa Camberis1,2, Adam Johns1,3

  • 1Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Infant Mental Health Journal
|August 5, 2026
PubMed

Insights

The Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) program improved parenting skills for all participants. Fathers showed greater gains in empathy and understanding compared to mothers.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Parenting Interventions
  • Attachment Theory

Background:

  • The Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) is a popular attachment and mentalization-informed parenting program.
  • Previous outcome studies on COS-P have produced mixed results.
  • Its effectiveness across diverse demographic groups remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the outcomes of the COS-P program.
  • To investigate the influence of parent demographics (mother/father status, education) on COS-P effectiveness.

Main Methods:

  • 117 parents attending an Australian Early Parenting Center participated.
  • The Composite Caregiving Questionnaire (CCQ) measured caregiving representations.
  • A mixed model repeated measures design analyzed pre- and post-intervention outcomes.

Main Results:

  • Significant improvements were observed in all CCQ domains post-intervention.
  • Fathers reported greater improvement in empathy and understanding self-efficacy than mothers.
  • No significant outcome differences were found based on university education level.

Conclusions:

  • COS-P effectively enhances caregiving representations in parents.
  • Differential outcomes may exist between mothers and fathers.
  • Parenting program effectiveness may not be influenced by parental education level.

Keywords:
caregiving representationscircle of security parenting programcomposite caregiving questionnaireparent demographic factorsparental reflective functioning

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